


Snow Day

by whaleiumsharkspeare



Category: Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure (Cartoon)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Friendship, mentions of past trauma
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-14
Updated: 2020-11-14
Packaged: 2021-03-09 23:22:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,765
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27564496
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whaleiumsharkspeare/pseuds/whaleiumsharkspeare
Summary: It's a snowy winter day in Old Corona and Angry and Catalina want to play with their friend, Varian. When the weather brings Varian some bad memories, Angry and Catalina devise a plan to teach Varian how to have fun and be a kid again.
Comments: 5
Kudos: 31





	Snow Day

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys! It may be a little early to be getting into the winter spirit, but I quite enjoyed this one and felt like sharing. Also, I know some people don't like when Kiera is called Angry, so I just wanted to explain that decision real quick. I kept her as Angry because throughout the series and even during the series finale, she is still referred to as Angry because she doesn't seem to mind her nickname the way Catalina does. I kept her as Angry because it seems to be her preference, like how Lance doesn't go by Arnwaldo anymore. Anyway, I hope you enjoy! I do have some mild descriptions of Varian's fears so just a heads up if that's not your cup of tea.

It was a chilly winter afternoon in Old Corona. Snow fell lightly from the overcast sky and the breeze was light but strong enough to whip the snowflakes around to dance in the sky and float all around. Only a few people were out and about, and most of the homes in the village had smoke rising from the chimneys and drifting off into the air. But it was not completely empty outside, as Angry and Catalina walked through the village in their winter wear, giggling amongst themselves and walking through the snow. When they reached Varian’s house, they climbed up the steps and knocked on the door. After a few moments, the door opened and Quirin looked down at the two girls in surprise and then smiled.

“Oh, hello, girls,” he greeted warmly.

“Hey there, mister!” said Angry.

“What can I do for you?” Quirin asked.

“Is Varian home?” asked Catalina. “We wanted to see if he’d come play with us.”

“Yes, Varian’s home,” he replied. “He’s in his lab. You can come on inside and I’ll show you and you can ask him.”

“Thank you!” the girls said brightly in unison.

Quirin held the door open and let them come inside. He led them through the house to Varian’s lab and opened the door for them to go inside.

“Just watch your step,” he warned. “My son’s lab can be a mess sometimes. I keep telling him to clean it up. Be careful not to trip over anything.”

The girls nodded in response and then walked into the lab, being careful to watch their step like they’d been told. They looked around at all of Varian’s test tubes and vials of alchemy of many different colors in awe. There was a whirring sound coming from the back of the lab and they followed it to find Varian kneeling on the floor, drilling something and wearing his welder’s mask on his face.

“Hey, V!” Angry greeted cheerfully.

Varian jumped up in surprise, nearly sending his drill flying, but he managed to catch it at the last second.

“Ah! Whoa!” He set the drill down and lifted his welder’s mask so he could see better. “Oh, hey,” he said when he recognized them, his voice a bit breathy from surprise. “You surprised me.”

“Scared, V?” Angry teased.

“Scared? No,” he replied, rubbing the back of his head. “I was just surprised.”

“Yeah, sure.”

“Anyway, what are you doing here? Not that I don’t enjoy the company, but I just wasn’t expecting it.”

“We wanted to see if you would come play with us,” said Catalina.

“Play?” said Varian. He looked around at his work. “I don’t know, I’m pretty busy with this invention, and my poly-alchemical substration tests will be in soon so I’ll have to write those results down and the spectrometric press has been a little finicky since I repaired it, so-“

“Ah, come on, V!” Angry interrupted. “You can take a little break, can’t you? There’s hardly any other kids in this village right now and we wanna play with someone, even if we have to settle for a dork like you.”

“Well-“ he looked at his work again.

“Please?” they begged, staring at him with little puppy dog eyes.

“Oh, alright,” he relented with a smile. “I’ll come play with you.”

The girls cheered and hurried out of the lab and Varian followed them, amused by their enthusiasm. When they got to the door, they raced outside, but Varian stopped short. He looked up at the sky, watching the snow falling. He felt a shudder in his bones, but it wasn’t from the cold. He didn’t move beyond the doorframe and his eyes were trained on the sky, staring at the swirling flakes and shivering as the wind rustled his hair. Angry and Catalina stopped in the yard and turned to see Varian unmoving in the open doorway.

“Hey! What are you waiting for? Come on out!” Angry called.

Varian swallowed and kept looking up. “I, uh, I didn’t know it was snowing,” he said softly.

“Well, yeah! That’s why we wanted to play with you!” Angry replied. “Snow is fun! There’s lots of stuff to do in it.”

“Yeah, you can go sledding or build snowmen or make snow angels,” said Catalina.

“Or, our personal favorite-“

“Snowball fights!” they said in unison.

“Y-yeah, I know,” Varian replied. The girls took notice of his hesitation.

“Hey, what’s the problem, V?” asked Angry.

“Yeah, is something wrong?” Catalina added.

As Varian watched the sky, a snowflake landed on his nose and he looked at it for a moment before it melted. He shivered again and took a step back from the opening of the door.

“You know, I...I don’t really feel like playing today. I really am quite busy. Maybe...maybe some other time,” he said, starting to close the door.

“Wait! Varian, you said you’d play with us,” Catalina protested, her voice disappointed.

“I-I’m sorry, guys,” Varian replied. “I’ll catch up with you later.”

“V!” yelled Angry. But Varian closed the door and the two girls were left standing by themselves in the cold. After a moment of silent confusion, Catalina spoke.

“What was that about?”

“I don’t know. He seemed like he really was gonna play with us. I wonder why he changed his mind all the sudden.”

“He did say he was busy with work,” Catalina pointed out.

“Eh, he’s always busy with work!” said Angry. “That’s why he needs to get out of the lab more often. He had a real reason to turn us down.”

“You’re right. Something’s definitely wrong.”

“Yeah. Let’s go find out what it is.”

With that, Angry and Catalina marched back up the steps of Varian’s house and through the door, walking across to his lab. They came back inside expecting him to already be tinkering away on his work, but instead he was pulling blinds across all the windows in his lab in a somewhat distracted manner. They glanced at each other confusedly and then addressed him.

“What happened back there, V?” asked Angry. Varian turned around to face them, having not heard them enter.

“Oh, hey again. Look, I’m sorry guys, but I really am busy with work and I can’t play with you right now.”

“You don’t seem busy to me,” said Angry, crossing her arms. “You’re not even working on anything, you’re just messing with the curtains.”

Varian sighed.

“What’s going on?” Catalina asked.

“It’s...it’s nothing. But I really am busy, so-“

“Come on, Varian,” said Angry, exasperated. “We may not be as smart as a big nerd like you, but we can tell when something’s wrong. You were fine to play with us until you started to come outside. What’s up?”

Varian stood quietly for a moment, not intending to get into the details of how he was feeling. How was he supposed to explain that something as seemingly innocent as a gentle snowfall sent his mind reeling with images of himself stumbling around in a blizzard, cold and alone, and bursting through the door to find his father trapped inside a crystal of amber, a crystal of his own creation? How on nights when the snow was falling outside his window and the wind was howling and shaking the house he would find himself curled up on his bed, unable to fall asleep because every time he closed his eyes all he could see was his frozen father and all he could hear was his father’s voice desperately shouting his name. He looked at the two girls’ curious faces, waiting for him to give them an answer, but he just couldn’t come up with one that he thought they’d understand. He started to open his mouth to talk, and then one of the shutters blew open from the wind. Varian gasped and ran to close it. The curtain he’d pulled in front of the window danced around in the wind and some snowflakes blew in. Varian pushed the window closed, panting for breath as he watched the curtain settle and the snowflakes melting on the floor. Then he sighed with relief and turned around, stopping suddenly when he saw Angry and Catalina staring at him.

“Are you...are you afraid of snow?” asked Angry.

“N-no, that’s not it..,” he started, his hands twitching awkwardly and his eyes dancing from side to side.

“Because you wouldn’t even come outside in it and now you’re rushing like a chicken with its head cut off to get the window closed so snowflakes won’t blow in,” Angry continued.

“Snow isn’t going to hurt you,” said Catalina. “It’s just water.”

“I am not afraid of snow,” Varian insisted, his voice stronger and face determined.

“Then why are you reacting like that?” Catalina asked.

Varian sighed and his expression softened. He looked away and rubbed his arm.

“It’s not just snow that bothers me. It’s the wind and the cold and the howling and the...everything.” He became quiet, not meeting either of their gazes. Angry and Catalina exchanged a look and then approached him softly.

“Hey, it’s okay,” said Catalina in a gentle voice. “You know, everyone’s afraid of something.”

“Yeah,” Angry agreed. “There’s no need to be ashamed of it. But it might help if you talk about it.”

Varian glanced down at her.

“Look, the way I feel about it is really complicated. I don’t know if you’d really understand.”

“Maybe not,” Angry said with a shrug. “But if you explained it, maybe we could.”

Varian looked at both of their gently concerned and genuinely interested expressions and sighed. There was no getting around it. He’d kept his feelings hidden for a while, and he was afraid that once he got going, he’d just keep on going, letting it all tumble out like a waterfall after a dam had been removed. But keeping himself bottled up wasn’t healthy either, and maybe it was time to let someone know about it. He turned his head in the direction of the window where he could hear the wind whistling softly behind it.

“Well, I wasn’t always bothered by weather like this. Truth be told, I used to love it. I would watch the first snowfall of the season with a lot of excitement and I would drag my dad outside with me to play in it. It was always a lot of fun.” He smiled as he talked, but then he paused and his expression morphed into a frown and his eyes became dark. “But then the storm came,” he continued, his voice deeper than before. “I ran all the way to the castle through the blizzard alone, with the wind howling and snow blowing all around. It was freezing and blinding and I was all by myself. I could’ve gotten really hurt. And then I made it to the castle and I tried to get help from the princess, but she couldn’t help me. The whole kingdom was in danger from the storm, but my dad was in danger too. She couldn’t help me, and the guards dragged me out and tossed me back into the snow. And then I had to run all the way back home through it and the storm was even worse than before. I don’t know how I made it, but somehow I did. But then I got back to my house, and...” Varian trailed off, closing his eyes and wrapping his arms around himself as the memory flooded back. It was a sight he would never forget, as much as he would really like to. He turned away from the girls so they wouldn’t see his face become red as he fought back tears. When he continued speaking again, his voice was very soft.

“And then I found my father, stuck in the amber.”

Angry and Catalina were silent as Varian recounted his story. They couldn’t see his face, but they knew that he must have surely been trying to fight off becoming emotional. They waited for him to keep going. After a moment, he straightened up and he turned around to face them again. When he did, his eyes were very serious and his voice was clear and strong.

“That was the start of a very dark path,” he said. “That snowstorm was the day I totally lost my cool. I became filled with this deep anger and nothing seemed to satisfy it except watching other people be as miserable as me, and even that didn’t last long. It didn’t fill up the hollow place inside me. I felt so betrayed by nobody helping me when I needed it, I just snapped. And I did some really, really terrible things. Things that I am deeply ashamed of. I never should’ve gone that far. I just wasn’t thinking. I hate the person that I became during that time. And seeing that snow, it just sends me right back to that day. The day I lost everything.” With his story done, Varian turned his head slightly and avoided meeting their eyes. Angry and Catalina looked at each other for a moment and then back at him.

“Wow, V,” said Angry softly. “That was-“

“Heavy,” Catalina finished. She sighed. “I didn’t know you had that kind of association with the snow. I’m sorry.”

Varian shrugged.

“It’s okay. It’s not like it’s your fault.”

He turned and went back to tinkering away at his work, apparently not minding Angry and Catalina’s company as they stood quietly beside each other. Suddenly, Catalina’s eyes went wide and she whispered something in Angry’s ear. A smile spread across Angry’s face and she nodded excitedly.

“That’s a great idea!” she whispered back. The two of them turned and walked back over to where Varian was working.

“You know, V,” said Angry as she stood near him. “Just because you had one bad experience with snow doesn’t mean you should let it ruin how you feel about it.”

“What are you talking about?” he asked, giving her a confused glance from underneath his goggles.

“You said yourself that you used to love snow, right? But now you hate it. You won’t let yourself enjoy it anymore. You lost all the fun and the joy it once brought you,” she explained.

“But it doesn’t have to be that way,” said Catalina. “You shouldn’t just throw away something that once made you happy. Maybe you can’t rid of that bad memory, I understand. But what you need is to make some new memories. Some happier memories.”

“What?” said Varian.

But he didn’t get an answer. Instead, the girls each took hold of one of his gloved hands and started to pull him towards the door.

“Wait, wait! What are you doing?”

“We’re gonna show you that snow isn’t all bad. We’re gonna help you have fun again,” said Angry.

“That way you won’t have to be so upset by it anymore,” Catalina added.

They reached the door and hopped outside, but Varian once again stopped himself before he could go out, gently pulling his hands free from their grip.

“Wait, I can’t do this. I...” he paused and looked up at the snowflakes falling again. “I don’t even have a coat on.”

The girls exchanged a glance again, feeling somewhat encouraged. He hadn’t exactly said no, right? Varian took a step back.

“Just...give me a minute.”

He closed the door softly with a gentle click and the girls stood out in the snow, watching the door. After a minute, it opened again and Varian stood in the doorway wearing his dark grey coat and his little cape with the fur-lined hood and a red scarf that moved a little bit in the breeze. Grinning widely, the girls walked over to him and took his hands again.

“Yay, V! You did it!” Angry said, encouraged.

“Yeah!” agreed Catalina with a smile.

Varian looked a little nervous, but he let them pull him out into the snow with them. In the middle of his yard, they stood on either side of him, each holding a hand, and they all looked up at the sky watching the snowflakes fall. It was a gentle breeze, no strong, howling wind, and the snowfall was light, not blinding and dizzying. As Varian stood, the snowflakes gently drifted down and landed on his nose and his long eyelashes, staying there even when he blinked his eyes in surprise.

“Wow, it...it’s really pretty,” he said softly.

He looked down and laughed slightly when he saw Catalina sticking her tongue out and trying to catch the flakes. Angry smiled up at him.

“You ever try to catch snowflakes on your tongue, V?”

“Sure, I’ve done it,” he shrugged.

“Why not try now?” she suggested, sticking her own tongue out and letting go of his hand so she could move around to have better luck at catching them. Varian watched her moving around but made no effort to copy her.

“Come on, Vari,” said Catalina, playfully nudging him with her elbow. “Have a little fun.”

She let go of his hand too and joined Angry in running around to catch flakes. Varian watched them, feeling a little unsure of himself but unable to stop the little smile tugging at the corner of his mouth as he watched them play. If he was really honest with himself, he did kind of miss just being a kid. He’d been through so much, it was almost like he had forgotten how to just have fun. But now his dad was free, and he had more friends than he’d ever had. He was on the kingdom’s good side again, and Catalina was right; snow is just water. He knew he’d never really be over everything he went through, it was hard to let go. But maybe it was time to make some new memories and have some new experiences. Some good experiences. With a glance at the sky, he stuck his own tongue out to catch the snowflakes, just like he did when he was little.

“There you go! That’s the spirit!” Catalina cheered when she saw him.

“Whaddya think?” asked Angry.

“Mmm, frozen water, my favorite,” he replied teasingly, but with a little smile.

“Okay, nerd,” Angry also jokingly teased. “Let’s find something more fun to do. Wanna make snow angels?”

“I’ve actually never been very good at those,” Varian admitted shyly.

“What? How can a person not be good at making snow angels?” said Catalina.

“I don’t know, they just always turn out to be a weird shape. Here, I’ll show you,” said Varian as he sat down in the snow to get started.

“Oh, this I’ve gotta see,” smirked Angry.

She and Catalina sat down on either side of Varian and the three of them started moving their arms and legs to form the shape. When they were done, Varian stood up and then offered his hands out to help pull the girls up. They took a few steps back to admire their work. There were two little, perfectly shaped snow angels and one bigger one in the middle that looked a little...off.

“See?” said Varian, brushing the snow off his legs. “They always come out weird.”

“Yeah, you weren’t kidding, V,” Angry said, tilting her head at it. Catalina tried stifling a laugh, but it found its way out anyway.

“Look at its skinny little legs!” she snorted, pointing. Angry burst into laughter alongside her. Varian watched them for a moment before starting to laugh himself.

“Yeah, you’re right. They are skinny. I don’t know how this happens.” They continued laughing together for a moment before Angry managed to calm herself down.

“Well, I know something you are good at, and that’s building things. Time to make a snowman!”

“Oooh, yeah!” Catalina agreed excitedly.

“Alright. Let’s get started,” said Varian.

Angry and Catalina smiled at his apparent enthusiasm at building a snowman. Maybe he was starting to warm up to this. Angry made a snowball and started rolling it around, and Catalina did the same. When Angry’s snowball became too big and heavy to push on her own, Varian and Catalina helped her. Once they were satisfied with how big the bottom one was, Varian helped the girls lift the second snowball on top of it. Varian made the last snowball, the one for the head. Angry and Catalina couldn’t quite reach the top with how big they’d made the first two snowballs, so they watched as the taller boy put the last one on top. He took handfuls of snow and packed it into the gaps, explaining that it would help strengthen the structure so it wouldn’t topple over under its own weight.

“There, I think that’ll hold,” he said, stepping back.

“Time to decorate it!” Catalina announced.

“You guys get the stuff for the arms and the eyes and stuff. I’ll be right back,” said Varian as he turned to start walking towards his house.

Angry and Catalina raced around Varian’s yard, looking for things to use. Angry found some sticks to use as arms while Catalina gathered an armful of small rocks by the frozen creek running under the bridge in front of Varian’s house to use as eyes, a mouth, and buttons. After a little bit, they could hear the creak of a door opening and turned to see Varian returning with an extra winter hat and a scarf he’d taken from a closet in his house.

“Think these’ll work?” he asked.

“Yeah!” they replied.

Angry stuck the sticks into the sides of the snowman and Catalina put on the buttons and stood on her tiptoes to tie the scarf around it. Varian put on the hat and finished up the eyes and the smiling mouth.

“Oh, wait, we forgot the nose,” said Angry.

“No, we didn’t,” Varian corrected. He pulled a carrot out from a pocket in his coat. “My dad was planning to put this in some chicken noodle soup for dinner, but, uh, we just won’t tell him, yeah?”

Angry and Catalina giggled and Varian stuck the carrot in the middle of the snowman’s face. The three of them stood back and looked at it proudly.

“I think it came out really nice,” said Angry.

“Yeah, thanks, Vari,” said Catalina.

“You’re welcome,” Varian replied. “That was fun.”

“But not as much fun as this!” Angry exclaimed, throwing a snowball at Catalina and hitting her square in the face. Catalina looked shocked for a moment before she burst into laughter.

“Hey! No fair, I wasn’t ready!”

“All’s fair in love and...snowball fights!” Angry retorted.

“Then I guess you won’t mind this!” Catalina quickly retaliated, throwing a snowball at Angry.

The shorter girl started laughing and then the two of them began running around, beaning each other with snowballs. Varian smiled as he watched them play. He turned around, watching the sky and listening to the sound of the girls’ laughter. It really was quite a beautiful day, with the lightly falling flakes of snow that dusted the landscape in a sparkling blanket of white. It was cold but not miserable, and instead of his own nervous heartbeat in his ears, Varian could hear laughter and the occasional whump of a snowball hitting one of the girls. He’d had a pretty bad experience with snow once, but that was one time. Maybe winter and snow wasn’t all bad. Maybe it really could be fun, if he just found ways to enjoy it. Suddenly, his thoughts were interrupted by a cold, slushy ball of snow hitting the back of his head. He startled for a moment, his shoulders tensing up in surprise. Angry and Catalina gasped and covered their mouths with their hands.

“Oh, Varian, I-I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to hit you. I was aiming for Catalina but I missed and I...I’m sorry, I-“ Angry stuttered nervously.

Varian brushed the snow off the back of his head and turned around to face them, wearing a mischievous smile on his face.

“Oh, it’s on!”

The girls beamed widely at him, a look that was interrupted by both of them getting hit with snowballs that he threw. And just like that, the battle was on. All three kids ran around collecting snowballs, throwing them at each other and trying their best to dodge the ones that came their way. The air echoed with the sounds of their laughter as they played their little game. Footprints covered the yard and snowballs were flying everywhere. Quirin stood by the window, looking out and smiling at the scene before him. He was happy that his son was finally getting to be a kid again. Just having a good time, playing with his friends and laughing. It was good to see him warming up again. The three of them played together for a long time until the sun started to set and Quirin opened the door and leaned out.

“Alright, everyone! It’s starting to get dark. Everybody inside.”

The kids dusted themselves off and walked back towards Varian’s house. When they got inside, Quirin had the table set.

“Angry, Catalina, would you like to stay for dinner?” he offered.

“Oooh, yeah!” said Catalina. “I’m starving!” Angry replied.

“Maybe they should call you Hungry,” Varian joked.

“Good one, nerd,” Angry said, giving Varian a playful shove.

The kids sat down at the table while Quirin served up the food. “Chicken and vegetable soup,” he said, placing a bowl in front of everyone.

“Perfect for a chilly day. One of the vegetables was supposed to be a chopped carrot but I couldn’t seem to find it anywhere.”

“Hmm, weird,” said Varian, blowing on his spoonful.

Angry and Catalina giggled. By the time they finished their meal, it was dark out, and Quirin wasn’t too sure about letting the girls go back to their treehouse alone after dark.

“If you want, girls, you can spend the night here. It might be better to go back home during daylight, and it gets colder at night anyway.”

“Oooh, sleepover!” the girls cheered.

Quirin went and pulled some spare blankets and pillows out of a closet and poked at the fire burning in the fireplace a little to keep it strong. The girls and Varian sat in front of the fire.

“Do you want some hot chocolate?” Varian offered. “It’s my favorite, and Ruddiger’s great at making it.”

“That sounds great,” Catalina replied.

“Yeah, thanks, V,” said Angry.

Varian left to go to his lab to assist Ruddiger in making the hot chocolate (someone had to turn on the burner, right?) and when he came back, he was carrying two beakers full of hot chocolate while Ruddiger followed behind with another one. Varian was also trying to walk normally while awkwardly carrying two beakers of hot chocolate and pressing a book to his chest.

“Here you go,” he said, handing one to each girl and then taking the remaining one from Ruddiger. He sat down beside them.

“Beakers, V? Don’t you have any mugs?” Angry teased.

“That’s how I always make it,” Varian replied sheepishly.

“Well, as long as it’s sanitary,” said Angry.

“It is!” Varian said defensively, but with a smile.

“Hey, what’s that?” Catalina pointed at the book.

“Oh, I just thought, if you wanted, I mean we don’t have to, but if you wanted, we could read one of my Flynn Rider books.”

“Good idea, Vari!” said Catalina.

The three of them found themselves snuggled up in blankets, sitting by the fire together with their hot chocolate and one girl on either side of Varian so they could see the book. Ruddiger hopped onto Varian’s shoulders so he could see too.

“Okay, then,” said Varian, opening the book. He began to read. “The Tales of Flynnigan Rider, number five. Flynn Rider versus the Earl of Camembert...”

***

When Quirin came down later in the evening to check on the fire, he found all three kids sitting together, sleeping peacefully. Angry and Catalina were each leaning their heads on one of Varian’s shoulders and Ruddiger was curled up in his lap, sleeping soundly as well. He smiled at the sight and adjusted the blankets so everyone was covered in one. With a silent goodnight, Quirin climbed the stairs and went up to his room. And even though the wind was howling outside, Varian slept soundly, no longer quite as afraid of the elements as long as he had friends to help him find the fun and show him that he had nothing to fear.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! I love the kinda "big brother" relationship Varian has with the girls. I think he would be a very sweet brother-like figure for them.  
> -Whaley


End file.
